Population and Aging in Asia: The Growing Elderly Population

Asia's elderly population is projected to reach nearly 923 million by the middle of this century. As a result, the region is on track in the next few decades to become one of the oldest in the world. Governments in Asia are generally poorly prepared for this vast change that will have wide social and economic consequences.

A comprehensive ADB report found that rapidly shifting demographics - particularly declining birth rates and increasing life expectancies - will increasingly shape the economic direction of developing countries in Asia. The favorable demographics that have driven high economic growth in the region are likely to reverse.

Asia's population is aging rapidly and as the population dividend that has fueled Asia's rapid growth becomes a tax, the region must look for ways to sustain economic expansion, and provide better support for its growing elderly population.

In the People’s Republic of China, more than half the population lives in rural areas but only about 10% are covered by rural pension schemes, according to another ADB study. In India, the pension system for civil servants and salaried employees in the private sector covers only about 14% of the workforce. Most of India’s workers are employed in the informal sector and are excluded from the benefits of a regulated retirement income system.

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